Traffic anticipated ahead of Purple Heart Bridge lane switchover

Published 9:23 am, Friday, September 11, 2015

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

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With construction complete on the Purple Heart Bridge's eastbound lanes, traffic is expected to begin using the new lanes Friday evening. By next weekend all directions of the older bridge will be closed for demolition.
Photo taken Thursday, September 10, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

With construction complete on the Purple Heart Bridge's eastbound lanes, traffic is expected to begin using the new lanes Friday evening. By next weekend all directions of the older bridge will be closed for ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

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Workers install a guardrail along the downtown onramp to Interstate 10 Thursday. The new eastbound lanes are expected to be open to traffic late Friday.
Photo taken Thursday, September 10, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

Workers install a guardrail along the downtown onramp to Interstate 10 Thursday. The new eastbound lanes are expected to be open to traffic late Friday.
Photo taken Thursday, September 10, 2015
Guiseppe ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 3 of 3

With construction complete on the Purple Heart Bridge's eastbound lanes, traffic is expected to begin using the new lanes Friday evening. By next weekend all directions of the older bridge will be closed for demolition.
Photo taken Thursday, September 10, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

With construction complete on the Purple Heart Bridge's eastbound lanes, traffic is expected to begin using the new lanes Friday evening. By next weekend all directions of the older bridge will be closed for ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Traffic anticipated ahead of Purple Heart Bridge lane switchover

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A major switchover of traffic to the newly completed portion of the Purple Heart Memorial Bridge begins at 9 tonight, accompanied by likely delays that at least some drivers already are planning to avoid.

Vidor football coach Jeff Mathews, whose team plays Channelview outside Houston tonight, said the Pirates likely will take an alternate route home.

"We definitely don't want to sit there in traffic," Mathews said. "It depends on how bad it is."

The Pirates could come home on Texas 73 through Port Arthur over the Veterans Memorial Bridge and through Bridge City or on U.S. 96 through Lumberton and Evadale.

TxDOT officials aren't sugarcoating it.

"We can anticipate there will be some traffic backup because of this switch," said spokesperson Sarah Dupre. "Any type of traffic switch is going to cause some delays."

"If you feel taking an alternate route would be best, plan for that," Dupre said.

The switch of eastbound lanes over the Neches River is scheduled to be completed by 5 a.m. tomorrow. By Monday, the on-ramp from downtown onto eastbound I-10 will reopen. That ramp will allow drivers onto the interstate without having to merge left.

"It's going to benefit tremendously, especially in the five o'clock hour, with reducing some of that congestion in that area," Dupre said. "Right now, everybody knows it backs up into Beaumont and so it's going to have three lanes going eastbound once we switch the traffic over. So that's going to help tremendously."

TxDOT is also closing the inside east and westbound lanes from Sunday to Thursday, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., so crews can move the concrete barrier to the new bridge.

Westbound traffic will be moved to the new bridge next Friday, Sept. 18, leaving two westbound lanes and three eastbound lanes on the new bridge.